Ed Brubaker Tries to Keep the SECRET AVENGERS' Secrets

Despite his excitement about taking on an Avengers team book for Marvel, writer Ed Brubaker is keeping mum about who stars in Secret Avengers, although he did confirm the title has an "espionage tinge."

"It's the culmination of all my favorite things about Marvel comics. It's an Avengers book, but I think some members of the cast will be surprising to people. But it's definitely going to have a bit of an espionage tinge to it," Brubaker said when Newsarama contacted him last night about Secret Avengers. "It's going to be a crazy book. I think it will be a lot different than people expect it to be, though."

This week, Marvel is teasing the new ongoing with a series of silhouetted character images and cryptic clues.

"I'm not really allowed to say much about it," he said of the teasers. "I noticed their first image of it had the character in complete silhouette. It's going to be a really cool book. I wish I could talk about it because I'm really excited about it."

Starting in May with art by Mike Deodato, the Secret Avengers title is the second new "Avengers" title announced for the post-Siege Marvel Universe. The first that was announced, Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr., had a similar series of teaser images, although those were less of a "secret," revealing a team that includes Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Woman and Hawkeye.

Brubaker is now slated to write two ongoing comics for Marvel beginning this summer – Captain America and Secret Avengers. The writer said there's been a lot of communication during Marvel's planning for "Heroic Age," particularly between himself and Bendis. He said the new "Heroic Age" will be reflected in Captain America as well as the Avengers books.

"We're having more and more discussions about that stuff, especially me and Brian, making sure all our books work together without conflicting each other a lot," Brubaker said. "You want each book to stand on its own, but at the same time, you want people to feel the presence of the larger Marvel Universe."

The writer said Mike Deodato's the ideal artist for the Secret Avengers because he and Brubaker share many of the same influences.

"We've been emailing a lot about exactly what we want the book to look like, and we have a lot of the same favorite comics from back in the day," Brubaker said. "A lot of his artistic influences are things I've been referencing in the script, so he was excited to get it."

Brubaker said Deodato's realistic style fits with how he writes, since even his most zany superhero plotlines are grounded in a realistic world.

"[Deodato's art] is really, really grounded in the same way that Epting's is or Butch Guice," Brubaker said. "It's interesting because both him and Butch are my main monthly artists. I'm just doing these two monthlies right now, for Marvel at least, and both of those guys are heavily influenced by Steranko – that sort of realistic, grounded, dynamic storytelling. But they also have this crazy sort of Kirby shit that goes on every once in awhile.

"That's my favorite way to use superheroes, is that sort of over-the-top kind of James Bond/pulp fiction version," he continued. "That's my favorite thing about superhero comics when I'm writing them, is to take all those crazy James Bond kind of plots and all the crazy Steranko and Kirby technology and put it all together like that. I like all that stuff, and the soap opera elements too."

Asked if fans can expect Secret Avengers to have all those elements, Brubaker said we'll see most of them.

"[Secret Avengers is] definitely going to have a lot of the espionage plots and the Steranko influence, and the crazy Kirby technology, but I don't think there's going to be much soap opera," he said with a laugh. "I hope it feels different than any Avengers team, ever."